Page:Brinkley - China - Volume 1.djvu/112

 stream loses much of its rapidity. Sometimes, in this wide area of water, one sees as many as two or three rows of ships ranged one behind the other. Such is the spectacle presented when one emerges from one of the passes into the port. Clouds of flame and smoke, rising in different places, direct attention to the width, the depth, and the shape of the city. At night, one might imagine oneself looking at a vast city all on fire, or an immense furnace with numerous outlets. Perhaps this environment of mountains forms a situation suitable for the porcelain industry. It is astonishing that a place so populous, where such wealth exists, where an infinity of junks arrive daily, and where there are no enclosing walls, should be governed by a solitary mandarin without the least failure of good order. In truth, Ching-tê-chên is only a league from the district of Fu-liang and eighteen leagues from Ju-chou, but it must be confessed that the police system is admirable there. Each street has a head-man appointed. Each head-man has ten subalterns, each of whom is responsible for ten houses. Their duty is to preserve good order, repair at once to the scene of any disturbance, quell it and give information of it to the mandarin, under pain of the bastinado, which is liberally used. Often the head-man himself vainly gives notice of a trouble and declares that he has taken every step to calm it. There is always a disposition to lay the blame on his shoulders and he escapes a beating with difficulty. Each street has barricades which are closed at night, and must not be opened without certain signals. Moreover, the Mandarin of the district goes his rounds frequently, and so do the mandarins of Fu-liang, from time to time. Further, strangers are not permitted to sleep at Ching-tê-chên. They must either pass the night in the ships, or lodge with some acquaintance who is responsible for their good behaviour. The police preserve perfect order and establish complete security in a place rich enough to excite the cupidity of an infinity of thieves.

As to the nature of the work done at this great industrial centre during the first cycle of its existence,